Direct Object Pronouns The Spanish Way

What are direct objects? Direct objects receive the action of the verb. Examples – John sold the car. – Mark ate the fish. – Sarah studied Spanish. Ask what was sold, what was eaten, and what was studied. The answer tells us what received the action of the verb. The answer identifies the direct object.

What can be a Direct Object The direct object can be a person or a thing. – Person Juan took María to the restaurant. – Thing He washed the shirt.

It doesnt matter if the direct object is a person or a thing, it can be replaced with a pronoun. Direct object pronouns help us be less repetitive in our speech. They allow us to communicate in the most direct and comprehensible manner.

Lets look at some direct object pronouns. – John sold the car. – How much did he sell it for? – He sold it for $2,000. Notice how we replaced the word car with the word it. It is an example of a direct object pronoun.

The English Direct Object Pronouns MeUs You Him Her It Them In English, we use these pronouns to replace the direct object. I bought the shirts becomes I bought them. I took John to the mall becomes I took him to the mall Shirts becomes them and John becomes him. The process will be similar in Spanish.

The Direct Object Pronouns Spanish Direct Object Pronouns MeNos TeVos Lo La Los Las In Spanish, like English, the words me, te and nos always refer to people. – Ella me llevó. She took me. – Te esperamos. We waited for you. Lo, la, los, and las can refer to both things and people. These pronouns must match in gender and number the nouns they replace.

DO Pronouns Referring to Things Lo and la have two meanings, it and him/her. Lets look at when they mean it. First, an object rather than a person is the direct object. An example might be She wrote the story. Ella escribió el cuento. The story / El cuento is the direct object.

El cuento is a masculine, singular noun, so we will need to choose a masculine, singular pronoun to replace it. The singular pronouns that mean it are lo and la. The masculine form is lo so that is the pronoun we need to select. – Ella escribió el cuento. – ¿Cuándo lo escribió? – Lo escribió la semana pasada.

Examples with nouns and pronouns Juan hizo el pastel ayer. – Juan lo hizo ayer. María manejó el camión. – María lo manejó. La chica pagó la cuenta. – La chica la pagó. Notice how the pronoun matches the gender and number the noun being replaced.

Using DO Pronouns to refer to people. It is more difficult to identify the correct direct object pronoun when it refers to a person. You must look at who the verb acts upon rather than how the verb is conjugated. As this is sometimes confusing, lets practice.

Fill in the blank with the correct DO Pronoun. – ¿Por qué no tomaste el autobús a la escuela? – Porque mi padre no ____ despertó a tiempo. In this dialogue, to identify the direct object we must look at the verb, despertó (woke up) and ask who was not woken up on time? In the conversation, the speaker is saying my father didnt wake me up on time. So we fill in the blank with the Spanish word me.

¿Por qué no tomaste el autobús a la escuela?Porque mi padre no _me_ despertó a tiempo. Más práctica. – ¿Juan y Marta fueron a la fiesta? – Sí. Tony ya ____ llevó. – ¿Y Mateo ya salió? – No, él te espera. Tú vas a llevar___.

– ¿Juan y Marta fueron a la fiesta? – Sí. Tony ya _los_ llevó. – ¿Y Mateo ya salió? – No, él te espera. Tú vas a llevarlo _.

Where are the pronouns placed? All objective case pronounsdirect object, indirect object, and reflexive pronounsare placed as follows: – In front of a conjugated verb. Juan me llevó. – After and attached to an infinitive. ¿Puedes llevarme? Beginning students usually only learn these two placements. Second year students and beyond should pay attention to the next slides.

Progressive forms and the Placement of DO Pronoun – The pronoun is placed after and attached to a progressive form. Estoy llevándolos. I am taking them. Notice that the progressive forms require an accent. The accent is placed on the a of ando and the e of iendo.

Affirmative Commands and the Placement of DO Pronouns – The DO pronoun is placed after and attached to an affirmative command. Encuéntrala ahora. Find her now. Affirmative commands may require an accent mark. If the command has two or more syllables you must place an accent mark on the second the last syllable of the command. – Háblamedime cómprala.

Review Me = meNos = us Te = youVos* = you Lo = him / it La = her / it Los = them Las = them Identify who or what the verb acts upon and choose the appropriate pronoun. Make sure the pronoun matches in number and gender with the noun it replaces. * Form is used only in Spain

Review placement Place the pronoun in front of conjugated verbs. Place the pronoun after and attached to infinitives, progressive forms, and affirmative commands. Add accents to all progressive forms and affirmative commands with two or more syllables.

Now all that is left is... Practice And practice some more.